Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for graphical assistance in an interventional medical procedure to open an occlusion of a hollow organ of a patient, as well as an apparatus to implement such a method.
Description of the Prior Art
A coronary heart condition in which one of the coronary arteries is completely occluded and should be opened again with a catheter within the scope of an interventional procedure is designated as a CTO (Chronic Total Occlusion). Approximately 8-10% of all coronary interventions today are CTO cases. The intervention to open the occlusion can only be implemented by experienced cardiologists. A problem in such a procedure is that, due to the total occlusion, the distal portion of the coronary artery cannot be depicted via a typical contrast agent injection in the appertaining artery, for example with the use of C-arm x-ray angiography. The cardiologist must thus effectively open the occlusion “blind”, which creates risk of vessel perforation as well as other risks.
In contrast to C-arm x-ray angiography, both the vessel occlusion (including the calcium deposit) and the proximal and distal portion of the appertaining coronary artery can be shown in a computed tomography (CT) image. However, computed tomography data (image) acquisitions cannot be implemented in real time during an interventional procedure.